Murphy – Customers at Bojangles restaurant got a free cup of coffee and an opportunity to meet with local law enforcement Friday morning.
Coffee with a Cop drew Cherokee County Sheriff Dustin Smith, several of his deputies as well as N.C. Highway Patrol troopers. The officers mingled with customers, who enjoyed on-the-house coffee in custom Coffee with a Cop cups.
“We bring the cups,” said Justin Jacobs, chief deputy with the sheriff’s office, who organized the event and one like it at Cups & Cones Café in Andrews earlier this year.
Pre-COVID-19, Coffee with a Cop was held nearly every month, he said.
The police department in Hawthorne, Calif., initiated the program in 2011 as a way for officers there to interact more successfully with citizens. Coffee with a Cop events are held in all 50 states as well as 15 nations and is regarded as one of the most successful community oriented policing programs.
Jacobs said in their dealings with law enforcement, people are often having a bad day – or are about to have one.
“We want people to have positive interactions with law enforcement,” he said.
The key to the event is that it opens the door for interactions outside of crisis situations, according to Coffee with a Cop Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit agency.
The Friday event started at 8 a.m. promptly and started to wind down after about 90 minutes. During that time, law officers chatted with citizens as they dined before posing for a group photo with Bojangles staff.